Thursday, July 18, 2013

Queer activists the world over will find this new documentary about coming out refreshingly different. Instead of the typical coming out story from a gay or lesbian teenager or adult, Fan Popo's latest film, "Mama Rainbow," focuses rather on mothers of gay males or lesbians - and how they have become advocates for their offspring.

A lesbian and a mother from "Mama Rainbow"

Fan, young (born in 1985) and creative, is a product of Beijing Film Academy. Working with the local activist group PFLAG China and the Queer Comrades webcast collective, the director has crafted a gender-balanced (in terms of offspring) movie that traipses across urban China in the quest of outspoken moms who have become active in the queer community in support of their children. One of the more touching scenes is when a mother reveals to her son that in fact, she had already figured it all out months before her son told her, but she dared not ask her son if he is gay.

In our Subversity Online interview, Fan concedes that the film features rather well-off families and mothers rather than fathers - although he reveals that some fathers (willing to be interviewed) were located after the film project was finished.

Fan at Outfest. Photo copyright Daniel C. Tsang 2013

Developed from a shorter version
posted online on the Queer Comrades video site, Fan suggests in the
interview that half a dozen is the appropriate number of mothers to
include. His film may make viewers rethink what "family" means in a
fast-modernizing China as well as moderating one's conception of "Tiger Moms". Funding came from the partner groups, including
those partially supported by the Ford Foundation. The 2012 film is now
on the festival circuit against a backdrop of growing efforts to combat homophobia in China.

Fan (right) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose latest film has been shown in China and at film festivals in Bombay, San Francisco (Frameline) and now at Outfest in Los Angeles. The documentary screens Saturday, 20 July, 2013, at 2 p.m. at the downtown venue, Redcat at Disney Concert Hall, 631 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles, 90012. For the entire festival lineup, see the Outfest LA program guide. See also ticket information. - Daniel C. Tsang.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

To listen to the KUCI Subversity Online podcast of our interview,
recorded yesterday, with director Nicholas Wrathall, click on: .
The American literary icon, Gore Vidal, is portrayed magnificently in a new documentary by Australian Nicholas Wrathall, "Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia," screening this Saturday at Outfest Los Angeles.

Using archival footage as well as later footage he shot in Italy and Los Angeles, Wrathall, a noted documentary filmmaker (he co-directed "Abandoned" - an award-winning film on the consequences of the 1996 immigration law that led to the incarceration of many permanent residents) - manages to trace Vidal as a child of privilege through his first homosexual novel ("The City and the Pillar") to his outspoken criticism of the imperial empire that his country had turned into. There is a revealing image of Vidal watching the presidential returns in Obama's first race and looking skeptical that Obama would be able to withstand corporate pressure.

Vidal: a literary icon

Captured on film is Mikhail Gorbachev, in post-Glasnost days, palling around with Vidal, obvious admirers of each other. There is also Christopher Hitchens - in a priceless scene - being ignored by Vidal as Hitchens tries to speak to Vidal - who first admired Hitchens but became disgusted with his siding with neocons (as journalist Robert Scheer notes in the film) over the Iraq War. And of course, there is television footage from that bitchy confrontation with William F. Buckley when the National Review editor called Vidal a "faggot."

We talk with director Wrathall (left) about why he made his film and his trips with Vidal, on Subversity Online. We also discuss Vidal's long-term relationship with Howard Austen - and discuss whether this was a sexual relationship or platonic friendship. The interviewer was Daniel C. Tsang, show host.

The film screens this Saturday at Outfest Los Angeles, DGA1 at 11A.M. For the entire lineup, see the Outfest LA program guide. See also ticket information. - Daniel C. Tsang.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

To listen to the KUCI Subversity Online podcast of our interview, recorded yesterday at Outfest, with director Stephen Silha, click on: .

A pensive James Broughton

A captivating documentary, "Big Joy", screening at Outfest Los Angeles, captures the pansexuality and poetic and cinematic genius of James Broughton, whose involvement in the San Francisco Renaissance predated the period of the Beats.

Stephen Silha at Outfest. Photo copyright Daniel C. Tsang 2013

Stephen Silha and his team of directors brings to the screen "Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton" and indeed viewers will be able to catch images and sound of Broughton from his marriage to film critic Pauline Kael (who bore him an offspring) to his later entanglements with men and women. Eric Slade, another co-director, earlier made "Hope Along the Wind,” on the life of gay pioneer Harry Hay.

Subversity Online interviews co-director Stephen Silha, a first-time filmmaker, on the life and impact of the affectionate and fairy-like poet, who continued writing into the end of his life in his eighties. In his senior years, Broughton is also engaged in a long relationship with another, younger man. Silha discusses in the interview why he made this film and their use of archival footage, as well as where the Broughton archives are located.

As the Outfest program notes indicate: "His [Broughton's] reverence for unbridled joy through childlike creativity and
silliness put him perfectly in tune with the flowering of free-spirited
experimentation in the 1960s, of which his film THE BED (1968) is a
cultural milestone."

To listen to the KUCI Subversity Online podcast of our interview, recorded yesterday at Outfest, with director Michael Mayer, click on: .

In the best of times, committed relationships across geographic and political boundaries are daunting and hard to make them lasting. Israel-born director Michael Mayer has made a daring gay love story, "Out in the Dark," involving a Palestinian Birzeit University psych student, Nimr (played by Nicholas Jacob), and attorney Roy (played by noted Israeli actor Michael Aloni). The film is screening at Outfest Los Angeles 2013.

Michael Aloni (left) and Nicholas Jacob (right) in scene from"Out in the Dark"

Mayer, who also co-wrote the screenplay, tells Subversity Online that the impetus for the film came from his finding out there is a community of gay Palestinians living in Tel Aviv and human rights lawyers helping them. The story is inspired by actual cases. Mayer suggests that advances in gay rights "never came from the top down" but rather from the struggle of activists. Gay online groups now serve to link gay and lesbian Palestinians together. He notes that the security services have for decades been targeting gay Palestinians serve as potential informants.

When the state apparatus begins active surveillance of Nimr - who is not out to his family back in Ramallah on the West Bank - his lover Roy, with his underground and above ground connections, helps figure out a way out of this tense situation.

Michael Mayer at Outfest. Photo copyright Daniel C. Tsang 2013

Both actors, whom Mayer tells Subversity Online are straight, manage to act convincingly as passionate, dashingly handsome, gay lovers even as the state security services lurk in the dark monitoring their politically taboo relationship.

Mayer is to be applauded for making a film where a gay Palestinian is realistically portrayed. His film points to the contradictions in a state which proclaims its liberalness on gay issues, but ignores its continued repression of the Palestinians oppressed by the Occupation it imposes on them.

The film screens at Outfest tonight and next Sunday at the Directors Guild of America -- July 14 at 7:00pm at DGA 1, and July 21, 2:45pm at DGA 2.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Irvine - One of the hardest things to do in life is to forgive hateful acts, especially perpetrated by someone on yourself. Documentary filmmaker Jason Cohen's "Facing Fear", featured at this year's Outfest Los Angeles, offers convincing evidence that reconciliation and forgiveness are still options even for a gay-bashing victim and his neoNazi perpetrator. On Subversity Online, host Daniel C. Tsang talked today with Cohen about his film and they explored the issues of forgiveness and hatred.

Jason Cohen (left) with Matthew Boger at the Museum of Tolerance.

Cohen's powerful short (23-minute) film tells the story of the accidental encounter, 25 years after a vicious beating on the streets of West Hollywood, of Matthew Boger and Tim Zaal, who meet again at the Museum of Tolerance, and the path to reconciliation and indeed trust, among the two.

Boger, who was 13 when beaten badly by Zaal, then 17, and a neoNazi punk rocker prowling the streets to beat up the vulnerable who later regretted his violent past, manage to find a way to understand each other. From teen hustler surviving on the streets after being kicked out of his home by his religious mom, Boger offers hope to those bullied for being different. Indeed the film is ultimately about hope for a future for both these men and for humanity in general, that hatred and division can be overcome and opposing sides can eventually reach some reconciliation.

The film is shown at Outfest Los Angeles this coming weekend. It screens as part of a shorts program on Queerer than Fiction (including one portraying Star Trek's George Takei and his partner Brad) at the Directors Guild of America, Saturday, July 13, 2013 at 11:30am and Sunday July 14, 2013 at 9:30pm. For the entire lineup, see the Outfest LA program guide. See also ticket information. - Daniel C. Tsang.

Laura Poitras, the MacArthur Award-winning filmmaker whose video revealed the identity of the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, was previously on KUCI's Subversity show talking about her film, The Oath, on the casualties of the war on terrorism. She also talked on the show about her own experiences with Homeland Security, which has detained her numerous times in her travels through U.S. airports. She was named a MacArthur fellow in 2012, with an award of $500,000. She also made My Country, My Country, on Iraq, which was nominated for an Oscar. Snowden first contacted her in January this year.

Click on a link to our announcement in 2010 of our interview, which took place 17 May 2010, when she preceded our interview with the directors of the Harvest of Loneliness, a documentary on the bracero program.

Video by Poitras on Snowden at the Mira in Hong Kong:

Poitras also wrote some of the stories on Snowden's disclosures about widespread NSA surveillance on Americans and foreigners for the Guardian and the Washington Post.

She is currently in Hong Kong documenting the Snowden case as part of a documentary on whistleblowers.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Howard Gillman, the newly appointed Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at UC Irvine, is coming to UCI from USC (where he was a recent dean) and is immediately facing opposition not just from an activist faculty group who went public with a letter, but also, now, from the UCI student body leadership.

Howard Gillman Will Need to Reach Out to Critics

On 30 May 2013 the ASUCI legislative council overwhelmingly voted to "condemn" the appointment and urged Chancellor Michael V. Drake to reverse himself, something not likely to happen.

The activist student group, ESCAPE (Ethnic Students Coalition Against Prejudicial Education), has issued the following press release:

Associated Students of UC Irvine Condemn the Appointment of Howard Gillman

May 30, 2013—-In a vote of 12-0-1 the Associated Students of UC
Irvine (ASUCI) passed a resolution condemning the appointment of the new
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.

R48-75 “Condemning the
Appointment of Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Howard Gillman”
demands that Chancellor Drake retract the appointment of Howard Gillman
and redo the selection process of the Executive Vice Chancellor and
Provost with more student voice and representation.

Howard Gillman, former Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and
Sciences at the University of Southern California, has been appointed as
the new Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.

Within the last few
weeks, various entities on the UC Irvine Campus expressed grave concern
and disappointment of the new appointment, including a coalition of
professors, the Irvine Faculty Association (IFA). The IFA released a
statement stating that “Dean Gillman’s fairness in handling personnel
cases, as well as his relationship with faculty in general and American
Studies and Ethnicity faculty in particular, have been called into
question by reports from USC.”

According to the author of the resolution
Summer Ko, “Given our current campus climate, UCI Administration is
handling the situation poorly. As the student voice on campus, we could
not allow for such a flawed process to be upheld.”

UC Irvine administration claims the selection committee was diverse and well-represented the student body; however, they fallaciously make these claims as there were only 3 students (1 undergrad, and 2 graduate) out of the 23 members, and the fact that that their diversity stems from the claim that racism was not present as there were “6 members of African descent”- a statement of blatant institutional racism.Thus proving, the process of selection was inherently flawed.

______

Subversities brings readers the complete resolution; the recorded vote below indicates the vote was 12-1-0.REQUEST FOR ACTION BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

Whereas, the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) has had an interim Executive Vice Chancellor Provost (EVCP) for the 2012-2013 school year,

Whereas, Howard Gillman, former Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California, has been appointed to be the new EVCP of UC Irvine,

Whereas, the Irvine Faculty Association (IFA) released a letter to Chancellor Drake to express their concerns regarding the appointment of Howard Gilman,

Whereas, the letter states that “Searches of broad concern to the campus should be conducted as openly as possible so that faculty from various areas and perspectives can raise issues that may not be evident to the necessarily few colleagues on any search committee”,[1]

Whereas the letter also states that “Dean Gilman’s fairness in handling personnel cases, as well as his relationship with faculty in general and American Studies and Ethnicity faculty in particular, have been called into question by reports from USC,”

Whereas, the letter also states that “...many Humanities chairs as well as many individual faculty who complained of his lack of support for their research and lack of respect,”

Whereas, the letter also states that “Many senior faculty left during his term despite USC’s able financial position, and there is a perception among USC faculty that Dean Gillman’s retention and tenure decisions were uneven, unclear, and partial,”

Whereas, in November, USC Professor Mai’a K. Davis Cross filed a federal discrimination complaint against the University of Southern California for denying her bid for tenure, arguing that the institution had a history of denying tenure to women and members of minority groups in the humanities and social sciences[2],

Whereas, Ms.Cross and her lawyer have contended that her tenure case included procedural violations by a former dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences—for example, that he, under the authority of the provost, made “cold calls” to scholars outside Cross’s field,[3]

Whereas, the committee said it had found "clear and persuasive" evidence that the "cold calls" the former dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences made to scholars to seek their views of Ms. Cross's work were procedurally defective and "materially inhibited" the tenure-review process,[4]

Whereas, she also filed a complaint in November with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, citing data she collected with a colleague in the political-science department,

Whereas, the data shows that 92 percent of white men who were considered for tenure from 1998 to 2012 in the university's social-sciences and humanities departments were awarded it,

Whereas, that compares with 55 percent of women and professors from minority groups who worked in the same departments during that period, according to documents filed with the EEOC,[5]

Whereas, the “Needs Attention” exercise threatened to affect the academic reputation of UC Irvine, becoming citable as evidence of administrative complicity in an inhospitable culture for minority students and faculty, [7]

Whereas, given recent blatantly racist incidents, and the campus climate, the need for the growth of Ethnic Studies is important more than ever,

Whereas, there has been no transparency, as there has been no public discussion regarding the selection of UCI’s new EVCP,

Whereas, Chancellor Drake states on his website, “It is my goal to infuse our values into the core of everything we do at the University of California, Irvine. These values – respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation and fun – foster the creative process, build stronger bonds between people and inspire a shared sense of purpose. It is my hope that as dedicated members of the UC Irvine community, we will continue to live by these values and promote the highest standards of excellence in all that we do,” [9]

Whereas the appointment of Howard Gillman to be EVCP of UC Irvine does not reflect “the creative process, build stronger bonds between people and inspire a shared sense of purpose,”

Let it be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council condemns the appointment of Howard Gillman as the EVCP of UC Irvine, as his actions do not reflect the University’s values of respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation, and fun,

Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council urges Chancellor Drake to revoke his appointment of Howard Gillman as EVCP and immediately begins a new search committee that is transparent and includes more than two students,

Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council urges Chancellor Drake to hold an open and public town hall to publicly address the concerns shared by undergraduates, graduates, and faculty,

Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council condemns Chancellor Drake for hosting a bow-tying workshop on May 9th instead of increasing awareness beyond a campus-wide email,Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council create an ad-hoc committee to be named “Transparency and Accountability of Administration Committee” that will consist of all members of ASUCI Legislative Council,Let it finally be resolved that this committee will continue to the 2013-2014 year and will advocate the University administration to be transparent and that their actions rightfully reflect the interests of the students of UC Irvine and the values of UC Irvine.

In the wake of the June 4 commemorations worldwide, we bring you a 2006 talk at UC Irvine given by Wang Dan, who in 1989 was a key student leader of the Tianamen protests in Beijing. He was subsequently put on a most-wanted student activist list, arrested and imprisoned, and on his release went to the United States.

He obtained his Ph.D at Harvard, where his dissertation in 2008 compared state violence under Mao and Chiang (Kai Shek on Taiwan) in the 1950s.

He now is an academic in Taiwan. He is banned from China (and Hong Kong as well). His memoir, in Chinese, 王丹回憶錄 : 從六四到流亡, came out last fall in Taiwan.

Cover of Hong Kong publication

Listening to his 2006 talk here, I am struck by how he relevant his talk still is, given that China still faces many of the same problems he talked about. Wang Dan explains how corruption in China moved the Peking University and other protesting students to seek democratization and discusses the challenges China still faces.

Wang Dan's talk first aired on KUCI's Subversity show on June 19, 2006. Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy in the School of
Social Sciences at UC Irvine, Wang Dan spoke on May 25, 2006 on the topic: "Rethinking the Past and
Looking to the Future of China." The audio includes a Q&A.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Update 5/12/2013: UCI has hired as EVC/Provost Howard Gillman. The UCI statement on its EVC search page includes a Q&A with Dr. Gillman on the issues raised in the IFA letter:

As you know, a small group of faculty members raised
concerns about tenure decisions during your deanship that adversely
affected minority faculty and women. How do you respond to the
concerns?

This group’s criticism of my record on tenure
cases for women and minorities is not based on the facts. In the latest
manual for the University Committee on Appointments, Promotions, and
Tenure (UCAPT), USC reports that from the academic year 2006-2007
through 2011-2012—which is the term of my deanship – 86 percent of the
tenure-track faculty university-wide who completed the UCAPT process
were granted tenure, with the proportion of women receiving tenure
nearly identical to the rate for men (1.2 percent higher for women), and
with almost identical rates for faculty who identify themselves as
non-Hispanic whites and those who identified themselves as ethnic
minorities (1.2 percent lower for ethnic minorities). None of these
inter-group differences are statistically significant, indicating that
there has been no uneven or partial treatment of faculty in tenure
cases. Tellingly, I think, neither the faculty Academic Senate nor the
college’s elected Faculty Council share the concerns that have been
expressed by these individuals.

In addition, I’d like to respond to the group’s mention of “cold
call” reference checks made during a tenure process. Throughout most of
my deanship, USC’s process did not contemplate that deans could
supplement dossiers by seeking additional input from scholars, so that
was not my practice. Toward the end of my term the official process was
revised to permit such calls under some circumstances. After that
change, my practice was still not to make such calls unless instructed
to do so by the provost after a request from the faculty on the tenure
committee. In one of the very few cases where this was done, a candidate
who was denied tenure filed a grievance and provided USC’s student
newspaper with details on her case. Her grievance was reviewed by the
faculty Tenure and Privileges Committee, which found no evidence of
discrimination; however, they also concluded that the lack of detailed
protocol for such additional input justified having her dossier reviewed
again without the supplemental input. This new review occurred earlier
this year, under the leadership of the dean who succeeded me, and tenure
was again denied. So my presence or absence had no bearing on that
outcome.

The Irvine Faculty Association via its executive board has voiced its opposition to the EVC candidacy of a recent USC dean. See the 12 May 2013 text of the letter sent to UCI Chancellor Michael V. Drake reproduced below. The move comes shortly after Black student leaders at UCI issued several demands on the UCI administration and the letter warns that this potential hire and recent academic program reviews have created an "inhospitable" atmosphere at UCI. The IFA executive board comprises: Mark LeVine (History), Chair; Irene Tucker (English), Treasurer; Eyal Amiran (Comparative Literature); James Lee (Asian American Studies); and Darryl Taylor (music).

The letter follows:

Dear Chancellor Drake:
We write on behalf of the Irvine Faculty Association, representing
the IFA in accordance with our bylaws. It has come to our attention that
Howard Gillman, former Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and
Sciences at USC, is the finalist of the search for a new EVC to replace
Michael Gottfredson. Searches of broad concern to the campus should be
conducted as openly as possible so that faculty from various areas and
perspectives can raise issues that may not be evident to the necessarily
few colleagues on any search committee. It is the purpose of our letter
urgently to point out such issues, even if the search has reached its
final stage. We are concerned for several reasons. Dean Gillman’s
fairness in handling personnel cases, as well as his relationship with
faculty in general and American Studies and Ethnicity faculty in
particular, have been called into question by reports from USC. Given
ongoing public attention to racism at UCI, Dean Gillman’s hiring
particularly without public discussion or review would send a negative
signal regarding UCI’s seriousness about addressing its problems. We
urge you to weigh the grave impact that this choice may have.

USC colleagues convey that Dean Gillman had poor relations with USC
faculty. According to current and past faculty at USC, Gillman’s renewal
as dean was contested in letters written by many Humanities chairs as
well as many individual faculty who complained of his lack of support
for their research and lack of respect. According to their accounts,
Gillman’s reappointment at the first renewal was qualified by
reservations about his performance. Matters apparently did not improve
during the second term, after which he was not renewed. Many senior
faculty left during his term despite USC’s able financial position, and
there is a perception among USC faculty that Dean Gillman’s retention
and tenure decisions were uneven, unclear, and partial. This situation
raises questions about his qualification to be EVC and Provost at UCI
during a period of ongoing budgetary difficulty and reorganization that
will require deft and professional negotiation and cultivation of trust.

Dean Gillman’s improper handling of personnel procedures is a matter
of record. According to published articles, in the course of an appealed
tenure case that is still pending as an EEOC complaint, it was
concluded that Dean Gillman acted inappropriately to bias the
proceedings by calling additional referees outside the candidate’s
field. “USC’s faculty grievance panel found that ‘Dean Gillman’s phone
calls to additional referees during the [review] lacked appropriate
protocols, resulting in a procedural defect that materially inhibited …
[the] tenure review process.’ The panel also recommended that Gillman’s
‘cold calls’ documentation be removed” from the professor’s dossier and
that her case be reevaluated (http://dailytrojan.com/2013/05/02/prof-loses-tenure-bid-after-appeal/).
Regardless of the merits of the professor’s case, Gillman’s behavior
unduly influenced it. This conclusion appears to corroborate USC
colleagues’ reports that he was out of touch and unsupportive. An
endowed Professor of English, Tania Modleski, has taken the unusual step
of criticizing her own institution in print. Professor Modleski
published an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education analyzing the
“continued erosion of faculty governance” during the period of Gillman’s
tenure, erosions that opened the door to the kinds of actions in which
Gillman engaged. (http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/01/11/the-death-of-shared-governance-at-u-of-southern-california/)
Professor Modleski notes that the kind of action Gillman took — phone
calls to additional referees — returns to practices that are socially
rather than procedurally and objectively based, and that such practices
have long operated to the disadvantage of minority faculty and women. A
dean who believes that such a practice is appropriate is ill-suited to
govern as EVC and Provost at a public university.

While it is tempting to hope that the problems with Dean Gillman’s
record could be offset by the impact of important gifts to USC, it is
far from clear that Dean Gillman played a decisive role in these gifts.
$200M raised in the period is attributable to a single very large gift
that was donated by a trustee. More to the point, despite the funds
raised across the university and despite the personal support of its
President, Dean Gillman was not renewed for a further term even after
the acquisition of these gifts. Dean Gillman’s difficulties apparently
outweighed his fundraising contribution, thereby casting doubt on this
dimension of his performance as well.

It is a crucial matter that Dean Gillman’s tenure was riven by
faculty perceptions that the decisions, research priorities, and tone he
set at USC adversely affected minority faculty and women and indeed,
the culture of enlightened exchange at USC. In addition to the EEOC
complaint pending regarding the case of Mai’a Davis Cross, Assistant
Professor of International Relations, which we cited above, another
tenure case involving a minority assistant professor, Jane Iwamura,
received national attention in the form of a petition signed by 923
academics and students and opposition from USC’s Student Coalition for
Asian Pacific Empowerment. (Professor Iwamura’s book from Oxford UP was
widely praised by leading scholars in her field.) A panel held at USC on
September 22, 2010 on “Race, Tenure, and the University” was dedicated
to studying the larger social forces related to what was said to be a
pattern of racial discrimination in personnel actions at USC.

In
addition, according to faculty in American Studies and Ethnicity Gillman
refused to appoint a chair they had elected, declining both of their
nominees. Faculty who work on ethnic studies and minority discourse who
departed from USC during Gillman’s tenure include Professors Denise da
Silva (now at Queen Mary, University of London), Roselinda Fregoso
(UCSC), Ruthie Gilmore (CUNY), Robin D.G. Kelley (UCLA), Herman Gray
(UCSC), David Lloyd (UC Davis), and Cynthia Young (Boston College).

While Dean Gillman is not the sole reason that many left for thriving
careers at other institutions, we are concerned that his management
appears to have exacerbated perceptions of institutional racism rather
than helping to overcome them. Administrators quoted in the above
articles respond to faculty concerns about diversity and equality by
arguing about the methodology used by a political science professor who
was working to document them, instead of treating the existence of those
concerns as a serious matter. This response is not appropriate. Dean
Gillman ought to have created conditions that encouraged a different
kind of response: a less defensive demonstration of the ability to hear
campus concerns at the level at which they are expressed by faculty and
students.

We do not need to emphasize that UCI is in the middle of a
challenging situation regarding racism on campus. The last few weeks
have brought two incidents of hateful slurs against black students. Nor
have such incidents been foreign to the campus previously. In addition,
the external review of the School of Humanities strongly criticizes the
assessment of Humanities units and one Social Science unit that were
said to “need attention.” The external review rightly stresses “the
seeds of distrust, the resentment, and destruction” sowed by the
targeting of precisely those units on campus most concerned with the
study of difference and diversity. The “Needs Attention” exercise
threatened to affect the academic reputation of UCI, becoming citable as
evidence of administrative complicity in an inhospitable culture for
minority students and faculty. The campus is vitally in need of an
EVC/Provost that comes into this situation with a strong proactive
record of promoting diversity on campus, including warm relations with
ethnic studies scholars; a forceful articulation of racism’s complex
causes and effects; and strong interpersonal skills for the handling of
racially charged conflicts. In this context, the hiring of a former dean
who actually has an EEOC complaint pending against his unit and who has
been found by a review board to have introduced bias into the tenure
case of a minority professor would be a visible and egregious mistake.
It would immediately be noticed as such by all members of the community
who have been following the “Needs Attention” debacle or working with
students who are rightly indignant about racism on campus. These are
disproportionately not the members of the community who have had the
opportunity to weigh in on the EVC finalists.

Our university has a serious commitment to equity and diversity. The
nomination of Dean Gillman as EVC calls that commitment into question.
Were he appointed, UCI could be charged with having dismissed in advance
the EEOC complaint. And while a current employee of the university has a
right to have judgment withheld regarding a discrimination complaint,
that is not the point when a candidate seeks to be hired into a new and
broadly significant position. In the latter case, an absence of
association with controversy and animosity is a positive and reasonable,
even minimal, criterion. Dean Gillman does not meet that criterion.

We would have raised the above issues earlier if we had had any
opportunity to do so. Amid ongoing concerns about equality, the limited
opportunity for comment in the search process may also be cited as
evidence that UCI, like Dean Gillman, needs to be more committed to open
governance and to the diversity and fairness it protects. Hiring Dean
Gillman without having given ample opportunity for views such as ours
will make it seem as if UCI is ignoring the recommendations of the
Humanities external review and the calls for sensitivity and education
being issued by UCI’s Office of Student Affairs. We bring these matters
to your attention in the spirit of openness and public concern. We urge
that it is not too late to have an open and full conversation about
finding the best candidate for this key leadership position at UCI.

Monday, May 6, 2013

In the wake of the "blackface" video by an Asian American fraternity at UCI, Black students have now issued a set of demands to the UC Irvine administration, headed by Chancellor Michael V. Drake, who is also Black.

Here is their statement:

Black students at the University of California, Irvine have the right to enjoy freedom of movement and association, security of housing, and the pursuit of education without fear of violation by other students, faculty, staff, and the police. We, the members of Black Leaders on Campus* (BLOC), call upon the UCI adminis...tration to foster a campus environment for Black students that is free of violence. To this end, the Division of Student Affairs must truly adhere to its stated mission “to promote the general welfare of the campus community within the framework of the UC Irvine values of respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, [and] appreciation.” Combating the climate of anti-Blackness at UCI calls for both the refusal to accommodate attacks on Black peoples and cultures and the allocation of resources to meet the pressing needs of Black students. Our demands, therefore, fall into two broad groups, one punitive and one proactive.

1a) WE DEMAND that the UCI administration cease referring to incidents of anti-Blackness as “isolated” or “rare,” including the Lambda Theta Delta (LTD) videos recently circulated on the Internet. The use of terms such as “isolated” and “rare” suggests that these incidents stand alone rather than collectively indicating a larger, structural problem on campus and in society.

1b) WE DEMAND that the UCI administration create and implement a zero-tolerance policy for anti-Blackness. This policy must be formalized in writing with the participation of two BLOC-elected undergraduate student representatives. This policy must place the offending organization on probation for a minimum of one year and revoke the membership of any individuals found to have committed particular offenses. Conditions of probation would include, but would not be limited to: loss of the use of campus space, on-campus advertising, and university funding. If the offender is not affiliated with any campus organization, other punitive measures could be devised.

1c) WE DEMAND that the UCI administration create a BLOC-elected, UCI-funded undergraduate student position to supervise the implementation of the university’s zero-tolerance policy on anti-Blackness. This student, holding either a major or minor in African American Studies, will work alongside the UCI administration in the investigation of alleged incidents of anti-Blackness, attending all relevant meetings. This student will have the additional power to design educational programs to combat the climate of anti-Blackness on campus. This student will retain autonomy in order to ensure transparency.

2a) WE DEMAND that the UCI administration create and fund a new student outreach and retention center, modeled after the UC Berkeley Black Recruitment and Retention Center (BRRC). The violence Black students face on and off campus has documented negative effects on our physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. These negative effects unnecessarily impede Black students’ academic pursuits and intellectual development and require dedicated resources. If the university administration is committed to combating the climate of anti-Blackness at UCI, then it must also mitigate such negative effects in order for Black students to thrive here. The UCI Student Outreach and Retention Center (SOAR) is spread thin in its support of a broad range of student populations and is therefore unable to address the specific negative effects of anti-Blackness and the particular barriers to recruiting Black students to UCI. Two BLOC-elected student representatives and two African American Studies faculty members, among others, would participate in the hiring of the Center’s director.

2b) WE DEMAND that the UCI administration financially support the newly founded UCI James Baldwin Debate Society. The Society requires funding for a director, graduate assistantships, debater scholarships, team travel and lodging costs at national debate competitions, and other operating expenses. The skills acquired in college debate – careful research, rational argumentation, decision-making, and conflict resolution – would empower Black students to better combat anti-Blackness in their academic, occupational, and social lives. While other debate organizations exist on campus, none provide a dedicated safe space for Black students to fully participate. The UCI James Baldwin Debate Society serves as a productive venue for Black students otherwise living and learning under the duress of the campus climate. Two BLOC-elected student representatives and two African American Studies faculty members, among others, would participate in the hiring of the Society’s director.

2c) WE DEMAND that the UCI administration restore the dedicated Housing Assistant position to the Ele Si Rosa Parks African American Studies Theme House. At present, the Rosa Parks House, as a result of budget cuts, shares one Housing Assistant position with the Humanities House. This creates an untenable scenario in which an applicant for the Humanities House could, however well-intentioned, preside over the residents of Rosa Parks without the necessary training, background or prior interest in the historic mission of the House. The Rosa Parks House is the only residence hall on campus with an explicit commitment to the welfare of Black students and requires a staff with focused attention and preparation.

2d) WE DEMAND that the UCI administration support the promotion of the Program in African American Studies to departmental status. As the only consistent source of scholarship at UCI about the history, culture and politics of African-derived peoples, African American Studies’ stability and growth must be ensured. The budget cuts that have plagued the Program in African American Studies in recent years are another means through which the UCI administration has allowed anti-Blackness to fester. The award-winning, internationally recognized research and teaching carried out by the faculty of African American Studies are essential to the fight against anti-Blackness. A robust Department of African American Studies would help bolster enrollments for Black undergraduate and graduate students as well.

"Isolated" is a truly impressive sports action film that stands out for its politics and not just its amazing photography of waves towering over intrepid surfers.

Director Justin Le Pera has assembled an hardy cast of five world-class surfers who head to Indonesia in a quest for the "perfect wave." On the way to find that wave, they run into pockets of Papuans in remote, isolated areas of the archipelago, local villagers who are seeking liberation and an end to their suppression and genocide by the Indonesian military.

We talk with Le Pera, who also wrote the script, in the wake of the successful screening of "Isolated" at the recently concluded Newport Beach Film Festival. You can listen to the KUCI Subversity Online interview with him today in the link at the top.

After the western surfers learn more about the Papuan resistance, they embrace the local villagers and bond with them. In fact they return to the area and find that although some villagers have moved to avoid redevelopment others remain and kids they train to surf still practice the sport!

Although it didn't start off as an ethnographic study nor a political film, it has managed to present not just an ethnography of the local Papuans but also a political lesson for surfers and other viewers - who may not be thought of initially as taking on such a political cause. The film, narrated by actor Ryan Phillipe, shows how the team of surfers, only one of whom spoke Indonesian, managed to sidestep the political pitfalls in their quest for the perfect wave although the sole female surfer, Jenny Useldinger, almost dies when she falls ill in the middle of a jungle but survives in the end.

Through the film's web site, viewers can become "ambassadors" to bring attention to the Papuan cause by recording and posting videos of themselves supporting the call to end the killing and for peace to result. Ryan Phillipe appears on a video there. One can also sign a White House petition there.

All in all, well worth watching, with its stunning images, more so for its political message. - Daniel C. Tsang.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Updated 3 May 2013 adding display on The Asian American Movement from the exhibit.

As if to celebrate May Day 2013, Gay Insurgent has
resurrected itself, if only as an image, but the magazine cover is now on display
through the mid-June at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
in Washington D.C., at an exhibit there. It is a part of an exhibit celebrating Asian/Pacific American month!

Credit: Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis

Credit: Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

The cover is portrayed on a banner, one of 30
banners on display to commemorate the struggles of Asians in America, in the exhibit, "I
Want the Wide American Earth," named from a quote from Pilipino American writer
Carlos Bulosan.

The cover on display is from the Summer 1980 issue of the
alternative magazine I founded and edited. That issuecelebrated the first Gay and Lesbian March
on Washington in October 1979 - and featured on the cover the huge cloth sign,
"We're Asian, Gay & Proud," carried by a small contingent of
queer Asians who had marched through D.C.'s Chinatown, a historic first, before
joining the larger march on Washington.

I'm the mustachioed guy near the center of the picture, taken by
Steve Nowling, now sadly deceased. I remember it
took me three-months then to grow that mustache!

The first-ever such exhibit at the Smithsonian is curated by Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis, initiatives coordinator at the Smithsonian's Asian Pacific American Program, and editor in chief of Asian American Literary Review. The exhibit will run through June 13.Thereafter it becomes a traveling exhibit,
going around the country, including a destination in southern California, the
Japanese American National Museum, in Los Angeles, from 14 September to 1
December 2013. [Correction: Actual period from 14 September through 27 October 2013.] Eight colorful posters from the exhibit can be downloaded here.

This is by no means the first appearance of Gay Insurgent in
a museum. The Museum of Chinese in America, located in Manhattan, features the same cover in its
core gallery (see below) after it reopened and expanded a few years ago.

Credit: Courtesy Flickr

And KQED, the San Francisco public radio station, featured
the cover in a write-up based on the UCLA Asian American Studies Center book,
Asian Americans: The Movement and the Moment, edited by Steve Louie and Glenn
Omatsu, in which I write about that historic march and the role of Gay
Insurgent in subsequently documenting it.

Below, I have adapted what I wrote, "Slicing Silence: Asian Progressives Come Out," in Asian Americans to make it
available to a wider audience, to stir up memories of past struggles, and to
bring to the attention of younger readers the progressive history of our
movements.

Don Kao (third from left in photo), an activist from New York and I ended up organizing
the first gathering of gay and lesbian Asians-at the first National Third World
Lesbian and Gay Conference at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in October,
1979, the same weekend as the first gay March on Washington. The conference was organized by the National
Coalition of Black Gays.

By covering the conference in the magazine, I wanted to make
sure that this historic gathering would not be forgotten. Re-reading it, I'm
struck by how the cover, now on display in a national museum, stands out: It
features a photograph of the nine of us, female and male, some with arms
raised, most of us smiling, behind a huge banner: "WE'RE ASIANS, GAY & PROUD."

Inside was Audre Lorde's keynote address at the conference
("When Will the Ignorance End?") ,resolutions from the conference, and news accounts after the conference.
For example, the accounts reminded me that we had heard solidarity statements from the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and socialist compafieros
from Mexico. The statement from the Consul General of Nicaragua in San
Francisco warmed our revolutionary hearts: "May from your conference be
born a movement that identifies, that unites and struggles with the liberation movements of all oppressed people."

It also contained my report on the formation of a
"Lesbian and Gay Asian Collective," when several of us at the
conference caucused and expressed the need to network after we went back to our
respective communities. There is as yet "no statement of principles to
guide the group," I reported, but clearly we felt the need to stay
connected as gay and lesbian people who shared the "common

experience of being Asian in North America."

Among the dozen or more Asians in our new "collective"
that historic weekend in D.C. was Mini Liu, a community activist, doctor and
later (in 1986), co-founder of the Manhattan-based Committee Against Anti-Asian
Violence. In 1974, as a medical student, she had begun reading Mao, and as she
later told an interviewer, "I was just really taken by the idea, the
vision of a different kind of society. And that's when, I think, I became more
consciously political based on heading for a certain point, not just a general
liberal notion of trying to serve other people."

Also reprinted in the magazine was a Chinese American
lesbian sister's talk at the conference, Tana Loy's "Who's the
Barbarian?" Expressing unity with other people of color, she spoke about
what had happened at the Asian caucus meeting: "Somehow, we felt-immediately
and immensely in tune with each other, because when an Asian
sees another Asian-they run away from each other." She attributed this
avoidance of ourselves in part to a "survival response, because for
decades of imperialist wars we have been atomic bombed, we have been napalmed;
we have been raped; we have been driven to suicide-and we have built this
country from the east to the west. And we have been called the barbarian!
...Who's the barbarian?"

She added: "But today we are going toward each other,
and we are sharing our strength with each other, and with all our brothers and
sisters here today. You know something? We're not that quiet and reserved Asian
....We're not that 'model minority.' Oh no, oh, we're silent, but why are we
silent? We're silent, even from each other, by the racism and the sexism that
exists in this country, that manifests itself in the fears and frustrations that
keep our own people in the closet as Asians and as lesbians and gay men. Many
of us cannot even come out for fear of deportation; and yet I know there are
many Asians who are going to be out on that street tomorrow, knowing that's a reality in their lives."

She explained: "In our short time together, a support
system has evolved from which we have drawn our strength, from each other and
from all of you here. And out of this strength we have collectively decided to
march together as Asians ... and you can be sure, you can be damned sure, that
those who oppose us will hear us, and they will hear us loud and clear."

And indeed they would, as about a dozen of us marched from
Howard University in the black neighborhood through to Chinatown and to the
mall, behind the banner expressing our pride, an historic first march by openly
gay and lesbian Asians.

At the march, we marched joined in solidarity with other
people of color, with the indigenous gays and lesbians leading the entire Third
World contingent, behind a "First Gay Americans" banner. We listened
as one selected to represent our group, Michiyo Cornell, a Vermont-based
Eurasian poet, addressed the huge rally at the Washington Monument, on the
theme, "Living in Asian America." Her talk was also published in the
magazine.

Saying it was the first time such a network had been formed,
Michiyo noted: "I am careful to use the phrase Asian American because we
are not hyphenated Americans nor are we always foreign-born women and men from
Asia. We have been in this country for over 150 years! We live in Asian America…”

She continued: "We are called the model minority, the
quiet, the passive, exotic erotics with the slanted cunt to match our 'slanted'
eyes or the small dick to match our small size. But we are not. For years Asian
Americans have organized against our oppression. We protested and were lynched,
deported and put into concentration camps during World War II. We must not
forget that the United States of America has bombed, napalmed and colonized
Asian countries for decades .... It could rape and murder Vietnamese women, children and men, then claim
that 'Asians don't value human life."'

Describing herself as an ''Asian American woman, a mother
and a lesbian,'' characteristics that are "difficult to put into a neat
package," Michiyo exclaimed that "I know that I live in the face of
this country's determination to destroy me, to negate me, to render me
invisible." She demanded "white lesbians and gay men" to think
about how they repress "your Asian American lesbian and gay sisters and
brothers," urging them to address their "white skin privilege."
She urged the crowd to realize that "the capitalist system uses not just
sexual preference but race and class as well to divide us .. .I would say that we share
the same oppression as Third World people, and for that reason we must stand
together or be hanged separately by what Audrey Lorde calls the 'noose of
conformity."' She urged fellow closeted Asian Americans to come out,
asking them to "consider how we become accomplices to our own sexual and
racial oppression when we fail to claim our true identities."

The excitement and solidarity we felt that weekend is
captured by Richard Fung's report, "We're Asian, Gay and Proud," in
the Body Politic, a gay liberation journal from Toronto. His report was also
reprinted in Gay lnsurgent.

Richard (the taller guy in dark glasses in photo), now well-known as the Canadian Chinese (born in
Trinidad) videomaker who has pioneered in documenting the gay Asian experience, wrote
that "if for many of us it was the first time we had spoken with other
Asian gays, we immediately recognized each other's stories." He offered a
stinging critique of existing gay society, "organized and commercial,'' is
"framed around the young middle-class white male. He is its customer and
its product. Blacks, Asians and Latin Americans are the oysters in this meat
market. At best we're a quaint specialty for exotic tastes.

Native people aren't even on the shelves." Fung noted,
"To make our voices heard, non-white lesbians and gay men have
organized." He concluded: "Washington was just the beginning."

Indeed it was. Richard went on shortly thereafter to found
Gay Asians Toronto, serving gay Asians in the Canadian metropolis. He had been
inspired by Chua SiongHuat (second from right in photo), whom he had met for the first time at the march. A
Malaysian Chinese who had graduated from MIT,

"S.H.," as he was affectionately known, had just
founded, in the summer before the D.C. conference and march, the Boston Asian
Gay Men and Lesbians. S.H. had started the group with two lesbians and another
gay man at Glad Day Bookshop in Boston. A member of the radical Fag Rag
collective, he also wrote for the first gay liberation newsweekly, Gay
Community News.

He was profiled in Richard Fung's "Fighting Chance", a
documentary about Asians with AIDS or seropositivity. S.H. remained a strong
advocate of seeing Asians as sexual "subjects" rather than just
"objects." He would later argue that "there is nothing wrong
really with being a sexual object if you can also be a sexual subject." He
authored the definitive essay on gay Asians for the Encyclopedia of
Homosexuality, which came out in 1990. He died of AIDS in August 1994.

Credit: UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press

At the time many of us remained active in progressive causes
because we sought a radical restructuring of America. We rejected straight
depictions of us a psychologically impaired, or as incapable of progressive
work. We knew those stereotypes weren't true. We remained activists even when
we suffered racism or homophobia, because of this larger goal of changing
overall society. And we saw our struggle as part and parcel of people of color
("Third World" peoples') struggles. But in 1979, because similarly
inclined individuals were able to meet together, a critical mass was achieved,
and we were able to begin organizing publicly as both Asian and gay. That
effort continues, because the task of creating a society that meets basic human
needs remains unfinished.

I am glad I can see Richard again this weekend where his
latestdocumentary, "Dal Puri
Diaspora" (2012), about his love of dal puri roti growingup in his native Trinidad, will screen at the
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Sunday, 5 May 2013, at 12 noon at
Directors' Guild of America, 7920 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046.

For more information about the book, Asian Americans: The
Movement and the Moment, see the UCLA Asian American Studies Press site. - Daniel C. Tsang. Note that some hyperlinks are to licensed resources available at subscribing institutions.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

A beautifully filmed 14-minute gay short is among this year's most entrancing films to screen at the Vietnamese International Film Festival this month in Orange County and the surrounding region, as Subversities resumes its blog after an hiatus.

Artistically directed by a youthful architect from Ho Chi Minh City, the film captures homophobic gossip in a small rural river-bound location just outside the metropolis the director resides, and its dark consequences for both a young boy and his gay uncle, who is an expert tailor - the target of malicious gossip.

The director, Nguyễn Đình Anh, 25, above and below, showed his film in his U.S. premiere late last month at Outfest Fusion - the People of Color permutation of the Los Angeles-based queer film festival. After the screening (with other shorts) at the ornate Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, the director was mobbed by appreciative fans (above), including film industry directors and actors. He was the star of the evening, grabbed by dozens at the post-film party just outside the theater, with many invites to meet up.

"Uncle & Son" (Hai Chú Cháu) - also known as "Uncle & Nephew" for the VIFF screening, is based on a short story of the same name by Huu Thang. According to the director, he wanted to show what life is like for gay people in rural Vietnam.

In just a few minutes, his short, set amidst a lyrical portrayal of rural Vietnam, brings out starkly the homophobic small-village atmosphere a gay man is likely to encounter just miles from the thriving gay nightlife of Ho Chi Minh City. Instead of seeing the faces of those making malicious comments as the boy travels by boat to school, the director has quite adroitly cut off their faces, so that only their voices are heard - creating an impression that everyone is against the boy's uncle.

Kudos to the kid, Tran Hoang Phi, who plays an innocent child - Hung - wondering if "marriage" would help his uncle. And to the handsome young man Ngo Nhat Truong, who plays his uncle - Chu Ba Lua - who has to hide his young male lover's photo from the nephew and everyone else.

The director told the Outfest Fusion audience he was happy his film was premiering in Hollywood. Dinh Anh told me he has dreams of pursuing a film career - and if he does - he will be an asset to any film studio that acquires his exquisite talent. Amazingly, the film was just shot in two days.

"Uncle and Nephew" screens 1 pm Saturday, April 6, at Edwards University, across from UC Irvine,on Campus Drive in Irvine. The film is shown with other shorts from Vietnam. For more information on the screening, see: Best of Yxine Film Festival.

About Me

This is a blog that pierces convention and disrupts the status quo. We seek intelligent turbulence over boring stability and creative uncertainty over certitude. Chaos is good. Stay tuned for future missives!